Viva Il Papa!

WHAT A DAY!

Today was an historic day in Rome, as the Conclave elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio to become Pope Francis I.  But let's start from the beginning of my day.

I had three midterms today, Archaeology, Intro to the European Union, and Italian Language and Culture.  So I was already exhausted from late night studying when my final midterm wrapped up around 6:30.

In my last midterm of the day, Italian Language and Culture, there was a girl in our class who said that she'd had an inside source that said that tonight was going to be the night that the pope was elected.  No one really believed her and everyone brushed it off, but she said her source was from inside the Vatican.

I decided to take her at her word, as I hadn't been down to St. Peter's since the conclave had started anyway.  Worse comes to worse, I see black smoke and hope it happens again the next day.

I went with a buddy from my Italian class, and we were waiting for the 870 bus to get to St. Peter's at a stop near our campus.  After about 10 minutes, I got impatient, and we took a cab ride to St. Peter's, which wound up being much cheaper than expected (and also wound up being a great decision, more on that later).  Sean had been waiting at the square for all of the afternoon voting, so he was already there.

We got there, and there were a few thousand people waiting to see if the pope would be elected.  It was raining steadily, and just about everyone had umbrellas.  They had television screens zoomed in on the chimney to see what color the smoke would be.

I was in the square no more than 15 minutes, when we saw black smoke emerge from the chimney.  A collective sigh went through the crowd.  No more than two seconds later, the smoked changed to gray, then to clear white.  A new pope had been chosen.

Pandemonium ensued, everyone rushed to be closer to St. Peter's with shouts of joy.  "Viva Il Papa!" they yelled, meaning "Long Live the Pope."  The bells of St. Peter's were ringing quite loudly.  Just about everyone in Rome stopped what they were doing to get down to St. Peter's to see it.

A processional began, and it seemed like a long waiting period for the Pope to emerge, the crowd was buzzing as to who they thought it would be.  A nun standing in the square was getting the details on her phone, the new pope was from Argentina.  With every movement of the curtain from where the pope would emerge, the crowd would gasp in anticipation.

Then, with a removal of the red curtain, there he was, Pope Francis I.  He gave a brief speech and blessing and just like that it was over.  I'd witnessed history, it was amazing.

It's pretty unbelievable to think what happened.  Of all the semesters I could study abroad, I choose this one.  Of all the places I could study abroad, I choose Rome.  And for the first time in over 600 years, a sitting Pope resigns.  And the only time I go to St. Peter's during the conclave is the one voting session that the Pope is elected.  And if I hadn't cabbed there,  I wouldn't have been there in time to see the smoke turn white! And the one week that Sean visits, he's here to see it happen!  What are the chances?!  It's pretty unbelievable, but I'm so stoked that it happened.  By far coolest experience here yet.

More updates to come this week.

JC